杯落地顿断疑根

腊月八七第三晚。六枝香开静。当值斟开水。溅公手。茶杯落地。一声破碎。顿断疑根。庆快平生。如从梦醒。自念往缘依稀。若不堕水大病。顺逆知识摄化。那有今朝。因述偈曰：

杯子扑落地。响声明历历。
虚空粉碎也。狂心当下歇。

又曰：

烫着手。打碎杯。家破人亡语难开。
春到花香处处秀。山河大地是如来。

宣化曰：大丈夫能事毕矣。

When a cup falls to the floor, he severs the root of doubt

During the twelfth lunar month, on the third evening of the eighth week of the session, after six hours of sitting meditation, the attendant made his rounds, filling up the tea cups. The Master's hand was burned by spilling boiling water, and his cup fell to the floor. At the sound of the crash, the root of his doubt was instantly severed. He was joyous beyond words at having fulfilled his lifelong ambition. It was as if he had just awakened from a dream, and he observed how the conditions of the past unravel. If he had not fallen into the river and become gravely ill, if he had not met good advisors who plied him with both adversity and felicity, how would this present experience have been possible?The Master's verse explanation says:

When a cup fell down and struck the floor,
The sound of the crash was distinctly heard;
Emptiness was pulverized
And the mad mind stopped on the spot.

Another verse by the Venerable Master Hsu Yun says:

The hand let go-the cup was shattered.
Family broken up, people have died-there's no way to talk about such things.
Spring arrives, flowers are fragrant, and everywhere is infused with splendor. The mountains, rivers, and great earth itself are just Tathagatas.